NSF/UVM Community Cosmogenic Facility (CCF)

Plans for the New Lab

We are very excited to have moved into a new, purpose-built
facility that will replicate all the functions of the previous lab. The
rebuilt lab has a total of 5 laminar flow, fully exhausting fume hoods.
The lab redesign focussed on both safety and efficiency with the goal of
providing a facility that could run 24/7. All boron-bearing materials
were avoided during reconstruction.The lab redesign was done by IDC and the
construction management by ReArch of South Burlington, VT.

There is a production lab that includes hoods dedicated to acid digestion, washing of lab ware,
and column chemistry for mid- to high-level samples, which are the bulk
of our sample load. There is a hood dedicated to all phases of low-level
sample preparation. There is an adjacent room dedicated to meteoric
10-Be extraction as well as the testing of quartz for purity. This lab
can be reconfigured for cosmogenic Cl extractions when needed. A
vestibule connects the spaces and there is a write up area for data
analysis. For safety and so that visitors can see lab activities
without entering the clean lab, the write up area is walled by windows.
Pressures cascade from the labs to the vestibule which is negative to
the hallway so that any fumes released in the labs are contained and so
that the labs stay clean.

Across the hall is a dedicated mineral
separation lab where we extract pure quartz. Downstairs is a rock
preparation facility.